New Delhi: The Canadian Federal Court of Appeal has thrown out a bid by two Sikh separatists to get off the country’s no-fly list after they weren’t allowed to board flights in Vancouver in 2018. It ruled that there was ground to suspect they would commit terrorism.
The court, in a ruling this week, dismissed an appeal by Bhagat Singh Brar and Parvkar Singh Dulai after they lost a constitutional challenge of their no-fly designations under Canada’s Secure Air Travel Act, the Canadian media reported.
The ruling said the Act empowers the public safety minister to ban people from flying if there are “reasonable grounds to suspect they will threaten transportation security or travel by air to commit a terrorism offence”.
According to Indian security agencies, Brar is the son of Lakhbir Singh Brar, also known as Lakhbir Singh Rode. Rode, an Indian Sikh separatist, was the nephew of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, who led the Sikh separatist or ‘Khalistan’ movement in India. Rode headlined the International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF) and was connected with the Khalistan Zindabad Force.
Parvkar Singh Dulai, also known as Parry Dulai, according to a dossier prepared by the security agency, is an executive member of what has been termed as ‘radical’ Dashmesh Darbar Gurdwara in Surrey. He also serves as director of the Canadian Sikh Coalition (CSC), which was established in 2008 with the goal of garnering political support for the creation of ‘Khalistan’.
Together with Gurpreet Singh Sahota, he manages a Punjabi media TV channel called ‘Channel Punjabi’, headquartered in Toronto. His name has appeared on the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) Black List.
Under the Secure Air Travel Act, the public safety minister can direct an airline to order an “enhanced security screening” of a listed individual or “prohibit the person from flying”, the ruling said.
The appellate panel found that based on confidential security information, the minister “had reasonable grounds to suspect that the appellants would travel by air to commit a terrorism offence”.
In 2019, Brar and Dulai approached the Federal Court of Canada to have their names struck from the list.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
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